Power-generator.



L. J. OAVANAUGH & E. T. YOUNG. POWER GENERATOR.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 26, 1901.

Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

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L. J. GAVANAUGH & E. T. YOUNG.

POWER GENERATOR. VAPPLIOATION FILED AUG. 26, 1901.

976,547. Patented Nov. .22, 1910.

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POWER GENERATOR. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 26, 1901. 976,547, Patented NOV.22, 1910.

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[ 1 MIT Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

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nrrn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEANDER J. GAVANAUGH AND EDWARD '1. YOUNG, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

POWER-GENERATOR.

eraser.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, LEANDER J. GAVA- NAUGI-I and EDwARD T. YOUNG, bothof Boston, in the county of Sulfolk and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Power- Generators, of which thefollowing is a specification.

In making our present invention it has been our aim to provide meanswhereby with very slight changes a steam engine of otherwise ordinaryconstruction may be 0-perated by means of hot air or vapor other thanpure steam, so that there may be not only economy in the originalproduction of the motive power, 2". 6., the fluid by the pressure andexpansion of which the piston is moved, but also in the application ofit to move the piston. We believe, however, that our invention iscapable of wider application and hence do not mean to limit it to a meresteam engine attachment, although we have shown and shall describe it asso applied.

The theory on which our invention is based is that the heat ofcombustion acting upon gas of a given density or pressure expands thatgas to a pressure as many times greater than the original pressure asthe total heat compares to the heat required to double the givenpressure, and our invention in its broadest form comprises means wherebyintense heat, preferably in the form of a flame, is projected into achamber on one side of a piston, which chamber is already filled with acompressed gas. This gas is expanded thereby so as to drive the pistonbefore it, after which a corresponding action is caused to take place onthe opposite side of the piston to return it to its original position.These alternate expansions are coupled with an exhaust action by meansof which the expanded gas after it has driven the piston to the extremeof its stroke is allowed to escape as the piston returns. By condensingthis exhaust which carries With it the products of combustion of theflame into a storage reservoir under pressure, substantially the samebody of gas may be used over and over again as the Working medium, sothat the engine may be run by supplying the minimum amount of heat, thusresulting in great economy.

For convenience we shall speak of the products of combustion or fluid ofmotive power as the gas, and as shown in the drawings it is fed to thecylinder of the engine Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 26, 1901.

Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

Serial No. 73,236.

and delivered therefrom by means of the ordinary valve mechanism usedwith steam. A condenser is provided connected at one end with theexhaust chamber and at the other end with a reservoir, which may be partof the condensing system and from which the gas is supplied in condensedform to the supply chamber of the valve mechanism, the gas in thisreservoir being always under a pressure controlled by a suitable safetyor relief valve.

Our invention will be understood by reference to the drawings in whichFigure 1 is a plan view of an engine of well known type to which ourinvention is applied, the cylinder and fuel compressor being shown inhorizontal section. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the cylinder showingthe condenser in vertical section, Fig. 3 being an end view of theengine. Fig. 4; is an enlarged plan of the cylinder and condenser. Fig.5 is a longitudinal section of the burner, and Fig. 6 is a detailshowing the pump in side elevation.

A is the cylinder containing the piston B, provided with a piston rodZ), the free end of which is attached to a block which slides in ways 5and is connected by a connecting rod 6 with a crank b so as to rotatethe shaft 6 This shaft carries the fly wheels 6 b and also the eccentriccl for the valve rod 1).

C is the valve chest of such construction as is ordinarily used in steamengines to provide a supply and exhaust to the two ends of the cylinderin turn in the ordinary manner.

The motive power or gas as we have called it above, is led to the valvechest C by means of the pipe 6 from the reservoir E, the exhaust beingled away from the valve chest by the pipe 0 As is intimated above thegas through the expansion of which the piston is moved, graduallycontains more and more of the products of the combustion by means ofwhich its expansion is caused, and as it is desirable that certain ofits impurities of a more solid character shall be removed, We prefer tolead the pipe 6 into a separating or washing chamber F Which may containwater or any chemical suitable for the purpose. As shown this chamber Fis connected up with'an inlet f and an outlet f to provide it with awater supply, f being a water gage to allow examination of the conditionand height of the water.

tvided with a check valve to prevent back "pressure therein.

from sinking too far in the pipe 6 This chamber F is not essential inall cases.

lectedunder pressure and from which it is forced through the supply pipe6 to the,

valve chest when the valve opens .-to allow it to enter either end ofthe cylinder. lVe prefer to provide a safety valve 6 which may be set toblow off at any desired pressure .to relieve the reservoir. Around thereservoir E is .a-jacket H containing water and forming a condensingchamber G by means of which thetemperature of .thelgas is lowered. Thepipe 6 may be given a number of .turns in the chamber G about thereservoir E before being connected therewith, gthoughtbest.

The fuel to be used to expand the gas may be any one of the well knownhydrocarbon mixtures adapted for the purpose, which may ;be mixed withair or not as thought "best. It is furnished under pressure and for thispurpose the feed pipe j leads from a suitable reservoir (not shown) to apump J mounted on the side of a compression chamber K on the .side ofthe cylinder A, being a convenient arrangement of these parts. Therpump'rod 9' is operated by an eccentric 7' on the shaft '6 in the samemanner as the valve rod D, The pipe j branches, one branch leading intoeach end Of the pump, each end of the pump being also provided with anair valve j by means of which air is drawn into the pump in the quantityneeded .to mix with the hydrocarbon. Each branch of .the' pipe j is pro-From each endof the pump cylinder leads one branch 70 of a pipe is whichcommunicates with the compression chamber K, which chamber acts as astorage chamber for thefuel. Tocontrol-the pressure in said chamber K,we prefer to provide the pipe j and a stand pipe 70? provided withbranches is, one leading to each end of the pump cylinder, with a valve'7', 70 each .valve be ing moved by a lever 7' 70 Each lever isconnected .at its free end with a connecting rod l which is operated bya regulator L, projecting from and connected with the chamber K. Upon acollar 70 on the pipe k is pivoted one end of a lever Z which is alsopivoted .to the connecting rod Z, and carries at'itsouter end a Weight Zthis construction being such that when the pressure in the chamber Kreaches a predetermined point it lifts the piston :in the regulator L Vwhich closes .the valve in the feed pipe 7' and vopens the escape valvein the pipe eadin r t rum-P so t a the s ppl located therein.

the pressure in the chamber -K again becomes nominal, the air enteringby the air valves j and escaping by the valve k in the From the chamberF the gas is led by the V pipe 6 into the reservoir E where it is 001-"pipe 70 The pipe is is provided with a check valve is to prevent leakagefrom the chamber K. The weight Z can be adjusted so as to cause thevalves to be operated at any desired pressure.

To utilize the fuel each end of the cylinder A is provided with a burnerM connect ed with the fuel chamber K by means of a branch m of a pipe mhaving a governor m This governor is of ordinary construction, and as itis operated in the same way that all governors are operated, itsconnections are not shown. Its purpose is to control the supply of fuelto the burners M.

One of the burners M of the kind we prefer to use is shown in detail inFig. 5. An opening a is made in the wall of the cylinder A into whichscrews a coupling a connecting the burner with the cylinder. The burneritself as shown consists of a double cone shaped casing made in twoparts an, m, quite small at its inlet end, which, in fact, is intendedas the burner proper at which the flame may remain lighted at all times,the remainder of the structure serving as a hood or protection to theflame from back drafts.

The fuel is fed to each burner through its valve chamber m containing aconical valve m, which valve is normally almost closed and held in thatposition by a spring 1217. The valve is turned to open it by a dependentlever m operated by a wedge m, m", on a rod m operated like the ordinaryvalve rod by an eccentric m on the shaft (1. After the lever m has beenturned by its wedge m, m and has moved out of contact therewith, thespring m immediately closes the valves. Each lever m opens its valveonly when turned in one direction. hen turned in the opposite directionit has no efi eot on the valve. Thus when the rod m is moved to the left(see Fig. 2) the left-hand valve M will be opened by the engagement ofthe vertical edge of the wedge m with 'the lever m of that valve. lVhenthe rod m moves in the opposite direction the lever m of that valve willslide over the slanting edge of the wedge m" and the vertical edge ofthe wedge m will ongage the lever on of the right-hand valve and openit. Thus these spring controlled valves are operated alternately to feedfuel first :to one burner and then to the other, the eccentric m" beingso set on the shaft 7) as to throw the rod m in the opposite directionto that in which the piston is moving and when the piston has movedabout a quarter stroke, this being, we believe, the

best adjustment. Any well known means for preventing back fire may beinserted at any proper point or points between the burners M and thechamber K. The use and construction of such means is so well known thatfurther description is unnecessary.

e prefer to cover each burner with a removable asbestos casing M toenable it to retain its heat as by this means should the valve closeentirely so as to put out the flame, or the flame be put out in anyother way, the heat of the burner will be maintained sufficiently highto ignite the next stream of fuel which is fed to it. If preferred,however, any of the well known electric igniters may be used for thepurpose.

The operation of our engine as now seems best is as follows: To start itup it is necessary first to supply the reservoir with air underpressure; second, to start the pump by means of which the fuel iscompressed in the compression chamber, and third, to heat the burnerssutficiently to insure combustion when fuel is fed to the burners. It isevident that these three steps may be easily taken by operating aseparate hand pumpv temporarily applied to the reservoir at the couplingE by the turning by hand ofthe fly-wheel of the engine to work thecompression pump and valves and at the same time by heating the burnersby a Bunsen burner, or starting the igniter if an electric igniter beused. hen the burners have become automatic in their action, andsuflicient pres sure is established in the compression chamber to feedthem with fuel, the operation continues as follows: The supply valve inthe valve chest being open a portion of the contents of the reservoir Epasses through that valve into one end of the cylinder, it being under apressure of say substantially 60 lbs. It there meets an explosive blastfrom one of the burners M which suddenly heats it, thus causing it toexpand with great force and under great pressure and drive the pistonbefore it, and at the same time absorb all the heat which otherwisewould be wasted. The exhaust valve to the chamber on the opposite sideof the piston is open and its contents passes back into the condenserand reservoir. When the piston has reached the end of its stroke theposition of the supply and exhaust valves change and the same operationoccurs on the other side of the piston, thus driving the piston back.The piston, therefore, while the engine is in operation, lies betweentwo pressures, one the normal pressure of the reservoir, relieved by thecondensation and circulation, the other the pressure due to theexpansion of a gas under the influence of the explosive heat of theburner which gas was at an initial pressure also equal to or greaterthan the pressure in the reservoir, the effective veloped by the heat ofthe burner acting upon a body of gas at (30 lbs. or whatever thereservoir pressure may be.

One feature of economy of our engine lies in the fact that a given gasabsorbs heat in proportion to its density or pressure, and expands witha force governed by its pressure and the amount of heat applied to it.By feeding gas under pressure to our cylinder and then applying the heatof a hydrocarbon jet injected into it, we get a greatly increasedpressure governed by the original pressure and the amount of heatinjected into it, this being obtained without the increased temperaturewhich would result if the same heat were put into the gas at a lowerpressure. This is owing to the fact that the greater the pressure ordensity of a given body of gas, the greater its power of absorbing heat.This heat in its absorption produces work in the form of expansionwithout the resulting extreme temperature, which would follow were thesame gas used under less pressure so that by this means we have a greatadvantage over the ordinary gas engine in that all the heat is used inwork being absorbed by the gas owing to its density, and there is nogreat amount of radiation to be carried off as is done by the waterjacket in the ordinary gas engine. Moreover, by saving and condensingthe contents of the chamber, 71. 6., the original body of gas and theproducts of the explosion or combustion, we reduce its pressure somewhatand increase its density, storing it temporarily until it is again drawnupon by the cylinder to be expanded as before, thus causing it tocirculate continuously through the engine as a working medium, with onlysuch addition as may be made to it by the products of the explosion.

It will be seen that if the reservoir originally starts with atmosphericpressure, a pressure may be built up therein either by a hand pump asdescribed or even by the explosion of the burners acting on the contents of the cylinder before the load is put on, the products ofcombustion being added to the original contents of the cylinder witheach explosion. In this case a turn or two may be given to the engine byhand to start the valves. It will also be understood that the exhaustwhen condensed becomes thereby reduced in pressure and in density andenters the reservoir at a pressure suflicient to force its entrance andat the instant when the reservoir is being relieved by being drawn uponfor a fresh supply. As the pressure in the reservoir becomes too greatit is relieved by the safety valve.

As stated above, we do not mean to confine our invention to an engine ofthe ordinary type such as is used with steam, z'. 0., one having acylinder into which the motive force acting upon the piston thus beingdei power is introduced at each end, nor do we consider it merely as anattachment to such an engine. We believe it to be of wider applicationbut we have shown it as an attachment or alteration of a well known typeof engine for simplicity in construction and also because it now seemsto us to be the best way in" which to utilize it. It is evident thatmany of the detailsshown may besomewhat differently constructed withoutaltering in any way the principle of the invention. r

What we claimas our'invention is as follows 1. Ina power, generator, acylinder, a pis-- ton, and means for supplying said cylinder with anexpansible gas and exhausting it therefrom, two burners, one located ateach end of said cylinder, each burner being provided with a springcontrolled- "al've normally substantially closed, in combination with areciprocating rod and means whereby it is reciprocated, said rod beingprovidedwith means for engaging each of said valves inturn andthrowingit, as and for the purposes described. 7 v

2. In a generator of the kind described, means for compressing andstoring fuel comprising a. pump and compression chamber, and a reliefmechanism for said pump, whereby the pressure in said compressionchamber maybe controlled, in combination with one or more burnersconnected with said compression chamber to be fed therefrom, and acylinder provided with openings located to receive the products ofcombustion from said burners, said cylinder containing a piston movabletherein, means for supplying said cylinder with pressure on both. sidesof the piston whereby said piston when at rest will be subjected toequal pressure on each side thereof, said piston being adapted to bemoved by the expansion of gas caused by heat ejected from said burnersin turn, as and for the purposes described.

3; In; a power generator, one or more burners, means for supplying fueltheretocolnprising a compression chamber, means forsupplying saidcompression chamber with fuel under compression and a governor operatedby said power generator to control the supply of fuel to said burnersfrom said compression chamber, as set forth.

4'. Ina generator of the kind described, a cylinder, a piston, means forsupplying heat to said cylinder, a valve chest adapted to furnish asupply and exhaust passage to each end of said cylinder alternately, anexhaust pipe running from said valve chest, a reservoir connectedthereto, a supply pipe connecting said reservoir with said valve chestand a separating chamber located in the line of said exhaust pipe andbetween said valve chest and said reservoir, as described.

5. In a power generator of the kind described, a reservoir adapted toreceive, hold and deliver gas under pressure, a cylinder and piston,connections between each end of said cylinder and said reservoir wherebyboth sides of the piston are at all times under pressure greater thanatmospheric pressure, means for injecting a flame lnto said cylinder, avalve chest having a supply inlet and exhaust outlet, separateconnections connecting said supply and exhaust with said reservoir, incombination with means for con- 1 densing the contents of said exhaustconnection, whereby the exhaust comprising the original gas deliveredunder pressure and the products of combustion are cooled to the initialtemperature of said compressed gas, as described.

6. In a power generator of the character described, a cylinder, a pistonworking therein, means for providing said cylinder with gas underpressure greater than at mospheric pressure on both sides of the piston,and means comprising burners for producing combustion and injecting intosaid gas an intense heat while under oressure, whereby said piston willbe moved by the products of combustion from said burners acting uponsaid gas under pressure as described.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our names this 22nd day ofAugust, 1901.

LEANDER J. GAVANAUGH. EDVARD T. YOUNG. Witnesses:

GEORGE O. G. CoALn, M; E. FLAHERTY.

